The University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (3-0) will play their first conference match against the St. Cloud State Huskies (1-0). This match will be played at the Duluth Indoor Sports Center on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, at 5:15 p.m.

THE MATCHUP Since 2007, the Huskies have had the edge over the Bulldogs in the 11 matches they've played against each other with an overall record of 11-5 respectively. Though in the last four matches these teams have played against each other, the Bulldogs have a 3-1 record since 2018. One thing to note in those last four matches is that all of the wins came from when the Bulldogs were at home.

A LOOK BACK The Bulldogs started the season with a 9-0 scrimmage win against the University of Wisconsin Superior, and non-conference wins of 5-2 against Bethel, 6-1 against Bemidji State, and 7-0 against St. Scholastica. These wins have shown just how powerful the Bulldogs have been this past week. These performances are highlighted by Shay Callaway, Megan Muller, and Olivia Honsey all going undefeated in all of these matches.

TOP 'DOG Shay Callaway has been playing great this past week, and her incredible performances haven't gone unnoticed. This last week, Callaway was awarded the NSIC Tennis Player of the Week. UMD women's tennis has not had a player of the week in 11 years. The last Bulldog to receive the honors was Katie Bolf in 2012. Callaway has started this season with an incredible 3-0 record in singles (No. 1 singles) and a 3-0 record in doubles (No. 1 doubles).

SWEET START The Bulldogs have had a fantastic start to the season, winning their first three of the year. A record of this good dates back four years to 2019. That season, the team's overall record came out to be 11-5 and 8-3 in the conference.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES St. Cloud State has also had a good start to the season with a 6-1 victory over Minnesota Crookston. In the preseason, the NSIC's Tennis Coaches Poll ranked St. Cloud State No. 8 with 43 points. Sophomore Maria Paz Aoki won both of her matches at No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles against Minnesota Crookston. Aoki was able to reach the No. 1 position of the Buenos Aires division of Argentina and ranked as high as number 29 in the country. SCSU's No. 1 singles, Freshman Oriana Grott, wasn't able to win her debut singles match but was able to win her doubles match. Grott originally hails from Warsaw, Poland, and has been put in the No. 1 singles position instead of Arisa Kashima.